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Friday, July 6, 2007
The problems with money, Democrats
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thinking Right’s Friday free-for-all. Pick a topic:
• Good choice. France awards its Legion of Honor to Barbra Streisand. “You are the America that we love,” said French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
• Quote of the Week: From Lex Luger, a former professional wrestler, who went through millions: “Money makes you more comfortable being miserable.” If you can’t be happy without money, you won’t be happy with it.
• We can place any environmental, social and regulatory burden on local governments and the private sector to achieve any objective we want — affordable housing, purer air and water, fuller employment and minimum wages — so long as we realize the costs are passed on to consumers. Georgia Power Co. is asking for a 7 percent increase in the monthly bill next year, or about $6.67 on the average user. Half the spending is for upgraded environmental controls at its coal-fired plants. We demand, they provide. Pay the man.
• Thinking Right’s what happened to: shag carpeting?
• Far too little research and reporting has gone into examining the role of foundations in framing public policy issues and in influencing legislation. Kudos then to fellow conservative Phil Kent, whose new book, “Foundations of Betrayal: How the Liberal Super-Rich Undermine America,” makes the case that, as he writes, thousands of them “doggedly fund their own ideological objectives in myriad ways that harm the United States” while ignoring medical and educational needs.
• U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, a DeKalb County Democrat, signs on to impeach Vice President Cheney. A frivolous rep in a theatrical body — Hank Johnson in the U.S. House.
•Think President Bush’s poll numbers are in the pits? Congress is 5 points lower — and under 25 percent.
• Be thankful for small favors: “We don’t have quite enough votes to get done everything we want,” says U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) of the Democratic do-nothing House.
• Our search for security from terrorists has its limits. Foreign-born physicians and other professionals whose lives and careers raise no red flags — even those from nations that produce or abet terrorists — will always be able slip through. That’s no reason to limit visas for professionals. It is reason to be more alert, even at the risk of being accused of profiling or of being an alarmist, as with the removal of the six imams from the US Airways flight in Minneapolis last year. The other reality is that terrorists will indeed employ low-tech weapons like the car bombs in London and Glasgow.
• A “greenie” possessing marijuana and prescription drugs of unknown origin who is speeding down the highway at 100 miles an hour in a statement car for the environmentally conscious, a Toyota Prius, need not be too concerned about global warming as a threat to life. But a lad such as Al Gore III clearly needs help more than he needs criticism.
• Two classes of villains should be pursued to the ends of the earth at whatever expense. One is adults who don’t support their children. The other is people who exploit tragedies. Father-and-son operators of a Comfort Inn in Union City have been charged with mail fraud, accused of bilking federal taxpayers of $20,000 in Katrina funds. It’s just an indictment, not evidence of guilt. But U.S. Attorney David Nahmias should be encouraged in his work. “We continue … to look at all types of fraud related to hurricanes Katrina and Rita,” he said.
• Coca-Cola, located in the iced-tea capital of the world, considers a bid for Snapple, an iced-tea brand owned by a London company. That threatens the delicate tea agreement that has long existed between the two countries: We don’t milk it, and they don’t ice it. Besides, when Southerners concede that somebody else makes better sweet tea, there’s no hope of saving chitlins and grits.
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